![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.keshertalk.com/nav-commenters.gif)
« Israel, Syria, and Iran | Home | Bolton on rogue dictators roaming NYC »
September 20, 2007
Double standards for military commanders
RELATED: Who owns the Democratic Party.
Via Michelle Malkin's comments:
Interesting commentary on this the from the left, courtesy of Jane Hamsher;
The MoveOn ad said what Democrats could not and survive politically — Petraeus is acting as a politician, doing a politician’s job of spinning and his actions are not above criticism just because he’s got a bunch of ribbons on his chest that George Bush would like to hide behind. And it traveled. To join with the right and start firing arrows into their backs is both destructive from a movement perspective and displays tremendous naiveté about what it’s going to take to end this war.
So if you are John Kerry, with ribbons on his chest, you are a patriot! A HERO! and how DARE YOU - you disgusting excuse for an American if you question him and his patriotisms.But Petraeus? He’s a politician. He’s scum. He “betrayed us.” - MoveOn said, and the democrats wanted to say, but they couldn’t ….
And another one:
One more thing. I don’t remember anyone treating that political hack in uniform Gen. Wesley Clark like they have treated Gen. Petreaus. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do have a residual level of respect for anyone who serves the country. Talk about political Generals! The minute he took off his stars, he jumped right into the Democrat Presidential primary!W Thomas Smith responds to an email from a reader who compared the "Petraeus...Betray Us" Moveon.org ad to the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry.
Nope, this is not a double standard. This is apples and oranges: General Petraeus is an active-duty wartime U.S. Army officer simply doing his job — fighting and winning an incredibly difficult and dangerous counterinsurgency, and then — this week — reporting the situation on the ground to the president, Congress, and the American people. He is not running for elected office.Senator Kerry, on the other hand, was running for elected office: In fact, the highest office in the land. The Swiftboat Veterans were v.e.t.e.r.a.n.s. who actually served with Kerry in Vietnam; his peers in wartime service, if you will. If you want to make a comparison, you'd have to compare the attacks on President Bush's Air National Guard service to Kerry — as the Left likes to say — being "swiftboated."
. . . . there is no parallel between the veteran swiftboat sailors going after one of their own who was campaigning to become the leader of the Free World, and those birds with MoveOn.org going after Petraeus. MoveOn had no personal history with Petraeus ... until now.
Judith | 09/20/07 at 01:02 PM | Categories: - Useful idiots
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.keshertalk.com/cgi-bin/mtb.cgi/6606
Comments
Disgraceful. What we should be talking about as a nation is what to do in Iraq. Instead, the Republican spin machine has managed to make the story about a MoveOn.org ad. Look! Over there!!! Pay no attention to the fact that every remotely independent organization and person paints a much less rosy picture of Iraq than Petraeus did.
I agree that "General Betray Us" was wrong. But the way the right can just turn the entire media to focus on this completely insignificant detail of the debate rather than on, you know, the actual substance, is just disgusting.
The right has been calling pretty much everybody on the left a traitor since day one of this war, but does that ever become the story? No. Ann Coulter writes a book called "Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism." Does the entire country become fixated on why Republican politicians don't denounce her? No. Sean Hannity writes a book called, "Deliver Us from Evil : Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism." Does the entire country fixate on why Republicans (and Joe Lieberman) don't denounce him? Of course not. They get a free pass even when they go on his show.
What a freaking disgrace our media have become. You've got to be an idiot to think that they are liberal in any significant way. They have become the puppets of the Republican machine.
The Iraqi people overwhelmingly say the surge isn't working. The GAO says it's not working. Various conservative commenters like George Will say it's not working. Intelligence estimates say it's not working.
Do I think Petraeus is lying? No. I think he's a general who was given an impossible mission and is doing his best to get it done. Putting forward the most optimistic take on it is part and parcel of the job.
JewishAtheist | September 20, 2007 12:21 PM
I was inspired to post about this myself.
JewishAtheist | September 20, 2007 03:08 PM
